The Art Institute of Chicago built a digital tool to get kids looking at Marc Chagall instead of "Angry Birds" — and it just took an award from South by Southwest. The museum’s JourneyMaker, a tool that helps families plan themed visits, won a SXSW Interactive Innovation Award this week at the...

For bootstrapping entrepreneurs, $1,000 a night for a hotel room at a conference is often out of the question. So they improvise. During the South by Southwest conference, downtown hotels cost a small fortune, and even the most picked-over Airbnb rentals reach outrageous rates. But missing out...

When they’re not pitching the next Snapchat or chasing Grumpy Cat around town, South by Southwest attendees are talking about the next most important thing: Tacos. In Austin, the things come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from authentic to TexMex to Moroccan fusion. I’m going to be honest: I...

Every year, tens of thousands of people from all over the world descend on Austin for the South by Southwest conference. That means a lot of networking and, yes, a lot of parties. TaskRabbit, the San Francisco-based online service that lets people hire out quick jobs from cleaning to delivery,...

Meet Repliee S1 and Android U, robots designed by Ryuichiro Higashinaka and Hiroshi Ishiguro to have logical conversations. Researchers displayed the robots at the Japan Factory at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, on Monday. Blue Sky asked them to debate the merits of sushi and...

Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke about his cancer initiative — and highlighted progress on a program based at the University of Chicago — in an emotionally charged speech Sunday afternoon at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. Biden, who was introduced by his wife, Dr. Jill...

Prominent venture capitalist Chris Sacca says he hopes recent allegations of sexual harassment and discrimination at Uber will be a lesson for other tech companies. Sacca, a billionaire who has appeared on ABC’s "Shark Tank," runs venture capital fund Lowercase Capital and was an early investor...

Wondering what the future of the internet could look like? Look no further than a new facility in Chicago's River West neighborhood. That’s according to General Electric Vice Chair Beth Comstock, who spoke at a panel with AOL co-founder Steve Case Saturday morning at the SXSW Interactive conference...

Fledgling companies — including a handful from Chicago — made the trek to the South by Southwest Interactive conference in Austin, Texas, this week to woo investors, network and get people talking about their products. On the conference’s first official day, those festivities were already in full...

South by Southwest Interactive kicks off this week in Austin, Texas, sending Chicago entrepreneurs, companies and investors south in search of talent, business connections and potential customers. But for the first time since 2014, the city’s “ChicagoMade” showcase will be absent from the blockbuster...

Anima is an experience. The large, floating orb beckons its visitors closer with an array of color-changing ripples that make its smooth surface appear textured, even up close. As the person approaches, the waves become more animated, drawing on the visitor’s energy or running from it. A loud,...

For the first time in years, South by Southwest Interactive attendees are buzzing about nothing in particular. Unlike in the past when a single service dominated conversation for that year — in 2015, it was livestreaming app Meerkat; in the past, Twitter and Foursquare blew up — the consensus seems...

McDonald's on demand? For Chicago-based online food ordering and delivery service GrubHub, providing that service would be a coup. "I think the ultimate evolution (of food delivery) is to be in a Honda Odyssey, ordering McDonald's through GrubHub integrated on the screen," said Stan Chia, GrubHub's...

It took months of planning and 22 straight hours of driving for Chicago food truck The Happy Lobster to make it to Austin, but owner Alex Robinson said the harried trip was worth it to sell his lobster rolls at South by Southwest. The former social media producer and Northbrook native opened his...

Chicago notched a few wins at South by Southwest Interactive over the past few days, but the city's marketing effort may have been overshadowed by other big spenders. On Monday, the second-to-last day of the interactive festival now in its 23rd year, Chicago tech boosters and entrepreneurs hosted...

The global surge of data is transforming our world. Some may fear it, others may believe it to be trivial. But for the homeless District of Columbia woman or the Haitian man needing to feed his children, big data represents a powerful tool to connect those in need with those able to help. This...

What are Uber's ultimate goals? According to author Douglas Rushkoff, it's to create an automotive logistics company and expand into driverless cars, something that's a hot trend now that GM is about to acquire Cruise Automation. Rushkoff's "Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus: How Growth Became the...

Ibtihaj Muhammad, a 2016 Olympic fencer and South by Southwest speaker who is Muslim, was asked to remove her hijab as she proceeded through registration at the festival Saturday afternoon. "I can't make this stuff up," she Tweeted. SXSW officials said they had removed the volunteer who checked...

President Barack Obama lit up a raucous crowd at the opening keynote of South by Southwest as he became the first sitting president to speak at the festival. "The reason I'm here is really to recruit all of you," he told the technology community Friday afternoon, calling on the friendly crowd to...

A colleague of SXSW co-founder Louis Meyers says the musician has died on the day the major entertainment festival opened for the 30th year. He was 60. Folk Alliance International Director Aengus Finnan said Meyers died Friday in Austin. The cause of death wasn't immediately known. Finnan replaced...

South by Southwest Interactive is off to a rumbling start, literally. A rising chatter competes with the steady beat of sneaker-clad feet over carpet as thousands of techies and businesspeople trudge through a winding line to get badges and access to the 23rd annual Interactive conference. Early...